Wofford outlasts Georgetown in opening day thriller

Friday

Feb 15, 2013 at 10:34 PM

Seth Neely scores game-winning run off of Eric Brenk's squeeze bunt in the 10th inning as the Terriers won 6-5 on Friday.

By ROB MOORErob.moore@shj.com

An eventful opening day for the Wofford Terriers' baseball team came down to a well-executed squeeze.Eric Brenk delivered a squeeze bunt to score Seth Neely in the 10th inning as the Terriers defeated Georgetown 6-5 on Friday at Russell C. King Field in the season opener for both teams.Neely reached second to open the inning on a fly ball to short center that was bobbled and dropped by Hoya second baseman Danny Poplawski. He advanced to third on a ground ball by Matthew Ramsey. Luke Feisal was intentionally walked to set up a possible double play when Brenk came to the plate.Brenk's bunt went down the first-base line, allowing Neely to dart home.“It was a nice way to win with the win executed on a bunt play,” Wofford coach Todd Interdonato said. “That's something we pride ourselves in. We've been working on that in practice.”Wofford was in control for the first six innings behind some timely hitting and a strong performance from starting pitcher Brandon Yarusi, who gave up one run and struck out seven over six innings.“Brandon was good. We expect that from him,” Interdonato said. “I thought his best inning was when he came out in the fourth and struck out the side. He was fantastic.”Clark Wise singled in Stephen Cantrell and later scored on a ground out by Josh Hyman to give the Terriers a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third. The Hoyas got a run back in the top of the fifth on a solo home run by Ryan Busch.Neely extended the Terriers' lead with a two-run double to center in the bottom of the fifth, giving Wofford a 4-1 lead. The Terriers tacked on another run in the sixth when Alec Paradowski doubled in Matthew Kaskow on a hit-and-run play, making it 6-1. However, after Yarusi left the game, the Hoyas fired back, scoring four runs off reliever J.D. Osborne in the top of the seventh on only one hit. Osborne nearly got out of the inning unscathed when Busch hit a fly ball to right with two outs that was dropped on the run, allowing two runs to score. Two batters later, Justin Leeson hit a two-run triple to tie the game. Matthew Milburn picked up the win for Wofford (1-0), giving up one hit over the final 3 1/3 innings. Charlie Steinman got the loss for Georgetown (0-1).Wofford is scheduled to host a doubleheader today at noon against Niagara. The Terriers will host UNC Asheville on Sunday at 4 p.m.